All Blog Posts Tagged 'class' - Think Atheist2015-08-02T22:28:29Zhttp://www.thinkatheist.com/profiles/blog/feed?tag=class&xn_auth=noSpeech I gave about Godtag:www.thinkatheist.com,2013-01-13:1982180:BlogPost:12470002013-01-13T11:51:34.000ZAshley Johnsonhttp://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/AshleyJohnson
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<p align="center" style="text-align: center;">In my public speaking class, we were assigned to write a speech. The speech needed to use either facts or emotional appeal to persuade the audience. I wrote this in a very short amount of time. Haha... I got one slow clap by a nice girl in my class. A boy in the front row said he lost all respect for me. What do you guys think of it?<b><br></br><br></br><br></br><br></br><br></br><br></br><br></br>God is Imaginary</b></p>
<blockquote><p><br></br> I used to…</p>
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<p align="center" style="text-align: center;">In my public speaking class, we were assigned to write a speech. The speech needed to use either facts or emotional appeal to persuade the audience. I wrote this in a very short amount of time. Haha... I got one slow clap by a nice girl in my class. A boy in the front row said he lost all respect for me. What do you guys think of it?<b><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>God is Imaginary</b></p>
<blockquote><p><br/> I used to believe in God when I was a kid. The whole idea of someone creating me and the world was fascinating. Later I realized I was wrong. I was not created by some all powerful and all knowing being. The world around me was so beautiful, but there was no way a God could have made it.</p>
<p> The very definition of God proves against him: <br/> “A being conceived as the perfect, omnipotent, omniscient originator and ruler of the universe, the principal object of faith and worship in monotheistic religions.” -Dictionary.com<br/> Here is a lovely quote from Epicurus: <br/> “Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?”<br/><br/> Here is another way to understand the impossibility of God. If you look at the definition of God, you can see that he is defined as the "originator and ruler of the universe". Why does the universe need an originator, a creator? Because, according to religious logic, the universe cannot exist unless it has a creator. A believer will say, "nothing can exist unless it is created." However, that statement immediately constructs a contradiction, because we must then wonder who created God. For a believer the answer to that is simple, "God is the one thing that does not need a creator. God is timeless and has always existed." How can it be that everything MUST have a creator, while God must NOT? The contradiction in the definition of God is palpable.<br/><br/><br/> Why doesn’t God answer prayers? Why isn’t he feeding the hungry and the poor? In Matthew 7:7 Jesus says:<br/> “Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”<br/> It’s strange that there are so many people who believe in God who are suffering. It’s part of his plan? Why is his plan so evil? Why does he want to watch his children suffer?</p>
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<p> “For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day”. The Bible states the Earth is around 6,500 years old. Science has proven that the earth is closer to 4.5 billion years old. The oldest discovered human fossil is approximately 1.3 million years old. That would have meant that humans lived on earth before God created either humans or the earth. This makes no sense. If the Bible says the Earth is only 6,500 years old, which is not true, and the Bible is the word of God… then is God lying? Or is the Bible the word of man? <br/><br/><br/> God was once a great idea, when we knew nothing about how the Earth was formed and how humans and life came about. To explain ignorance, we use God and religion. When we don’t know hard life questions we use God as the answer. That’s not good enough for me. I want to KNOW. I want to understand. I want the scientific proof and evidence for every question concerning the basis of life. When I’m sick, I want a doctor to help me, not prayer. When I feel all alone, I want to learn how to be comfortable that way, not talk to God. When I have nothing in life, I want to be able to pick up the pieces, not come to religion. <br/><br/></p>
<p> I will finish off with a quote by Stephen Roberts: "I contend that we are both Atheist. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods you will understand why I dismiss yours."</p>
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<p> <br/><br/><br/>Sorry. I didn't list sources that I got my information from. :3</p>Jonathan Park: The How-do-I-refute-ID-without-offending Adventure Beginstag:www.thinkatheist.com,2009-07-08:1982180:BlogPost:1215922009-07-08T19:57:49.000ZMatthewhttp://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/Armadillo
I'm teaching high school summer school right now. The kids aren't there because they have to be, they are there because they want to be. This program I'm in is nice because I can pretty much talk about whatever I want. I got an interesting question about evolution, so we discussed it for a while. It wasn't long before I spotted the religious student. He gave himself away when he tried to debunk all of science because of our lack of total understanding of the beginnings of the universe. It seems…
I'm teaching high school summer school right now. The kids aren't there because they have to be, they are there because they want to be. This program I'm in is nice because I can pretty much talk about whatever I want. I got an interesting question about evolution, so we discussed it for a while. It wasn't long before I spotted the religious student. He gave himself away when he tried to debunk all of science because of our lack of total understanding of the beginnings of the universe. It seems like there is always one. He was clearly educated in the ways of ID arguments, which I politely disagreed with and moved on.<br />
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The sad thing is, he's quite intelligent, kind, mature, and interested in science. He's even good at it as long as it isn't evolution. Unfortunately, he has a very distorted view of science. I've gotten the whole spiel about how both Christian and non-christian scientists agree with ID. I've gotten several ID type questions from him, but I usually side-step them so as not to derail the whole class.<br />
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Now to the reason I wrote this post. Today, he gave me a CD with a recording of "Jonathan Park: The Adventure Begins." He went on and on about how AWESOME it is and how much he loves it and how exciting it is and how he has more CD's he'd be happy to lend me and he's just sure I'll love it. He told me that this CD, "gives SOME examples of scientific observations that are valid findings from well respected non-christian and christian scientists." He practically begged me to listen to the WHOLE thing. I smiled, thanked him and felt a knot in my stomach. I suspected what it was and was correct.<br />
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Here's a summary from Amazon: "The Jonathan Park Radio Drama is a unique audio series that became an instant hit on Christian radio with the release of the show’s first twelve episodes. Each fast-paced, half-hour episode gives families an example of how their Christian worldview plays itself out in everyday life. Though the stories are fictitious, the creation data presented in each broadcast is based on real research gathered from creation scientists worldwide, and the settings for the stories are based on actual geographic locations. Featured on more than 750 radio outlets around the world, Jonathan Park presents creation science in an engaging story format that the whole family can enjoy."<br />
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Ohhhhhh Noooooooooooo!<br />
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It's not so bad if a student proposes one argument at a time, but a whole CD worth at once? Ugh.<br />
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So here's where I reach out the the TA community. Has anyone listened to this? I tried, but it's just awful. I actually got angry at the lies they are sowing. I mean, I knew they did this, but to actually experience it was like a punch in the throat by the right-hook of my childhood Jesus brainwashing. I should probably finish it, just to truly understand where this kid is coming from.<br />
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If this were just some guy off the street I'd take notes and tear each error apart as thoroughly as possible. As it stands, I'm not sure what to do because talking about these things with students is always quite risky, especially as a science teacher. I don't want to blast the kid, it's not his fault he's been lied to his whole life. I'd like to gently nudge him toward actual science, but all the anti-ID stuff I find is quite aggressive and would not be taken well.<br />
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I'd like to refer him to a webpage, video, or TV program that refutes ID point by point, but is documentary-like, has no swear words, and never mentions atheism. If any of those isn't met, I doubt it'll do any good whatsoever. Does this exist? If so, I would LOVE to have it in my back pocket...I'm sure this isn't the last (it's not the first) time I'll run into this.